Source: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

Ireland’s march begins

Hot on the heels of John Mitchell, Scott Bemand has revealed the 37 names of players to form Ireland’s first training squad. It is: Backs *Alana McInerney, Anna McGann; Aoibheann Reilly, Aoife Dalton, Beibhinn Parsons, *Caitriona Finn, Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Eve Higgins, Nancy McGillivray, *Niamh Gallagher, *Robyn O’Connor; Stacey Flood, Vicky Elmes

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Source: Celtic Challenge

Celtic Challenge – two tight tussles

The third round was completed with two closely fought battles. The key words on every. coach’s lips are “young” and “youth”. You don’t often find two 18-year-olds facing each other in the front row at elite level. Brython Thunder v Clovers But for Brython things changed. They added three eminent internationals to their starting Fifteen,

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Source: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Wolfhounds sitting pretty

The Irish Wolfhounds are the side their five Celtic Challenge rivals long to be. The weather in Edinburgh stayed cold but bearable. The hosts knew they were up against it; the Wolfhounds seem likely to remain top dog for the foreseeable future, thanks to a phalanx of international stars. All the same Neill Alcorn will

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Source: RPA

Looking forward to 2026

1. More tests than ever The most significant feature of the new year is the vast increase in the number of test matches, caused mainly, but not entirely, by the innovative WXV Global Series. 2. Here is a selection of fixtures (many have yet to be finalised). 27 March: Australia v Fijiana (Canberra) April: Canada

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Source: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby

Answers to the 2025 Rugby Quiz

Here are the answers to our 2025 Rugby Quiz I offer in brackets examples of bonus-point winning additions to your answers. Your bare minimum total was 5 + 24 = 29. If you reached 100, you may rightly put in for a place on the World Rugby Council. Part One (RWC) 1. Australia and USA

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Source: Glasgow Warriors

Celtic Challenge 2025-2026

It’s still very early days in the third version of this tournament, just two rounds completed. But already we can see a familiar pattern recurring. In the only game played on the first weekend of the new year Wolfhounds beat fellow-countrywomen, Clovers, 24-7. That makes them the only side to take full points. A squad

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Source: Alex Ho / World Rugby

Your 2025 Rugby Quiz

All the answers are discoverable on this website. As usual you may award yourself bonus points for every (correct) additional detail added. To warm you up, here are five questions limited to the World Cup: 1. Which two nations took part in the 31-31 draw? 2. How many tries did Braxton Sorensen-McGee score? 3. Which

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